June 14th is World Blood Donor Day. It’s a day to be selfless and to remember the life changing value one unit of blood has for another human being.

2017’s slogan from the WHO is, “What can you do? Give blood. Give now. Give often.” Their focus for this year’s blood drive is emergency situations. The campaign aims to highlight the role every single person can play in an emergency by donating blood. It also focuses on the importance of maintaining sufficient blood stores before an emergency arises.

Blood types range from A, B, AB to O. What China lacks most of among these blood types is Rh negative blood. Only 3 out of every 1000 Chinese people are born Rh negative. Because of its rarity, Rh neg blood has been nicknamed “panda blood”. The small number of people with Rh neg blood means there is an equally small number of donors, which poses serious problems for people who require urgent transfusions, especially women who have postpartum hemorrhages.

In much of Europe, Rh neg blood types constitute about 15% of the population. Much of China’s Rh neg blood supplies relies on Expat donations collected at blood drives.

So, Be Positive & Selfless by…

Aiding this cause and donating.

Strengthening the emergency preparedness of health services for emergencies by donating.

This June 14th, OASIS International Hospital, in coordination with the Beijing Red Cross Blood Center, will be hosting a blood drive here at the hospital. We encourage all able persons to donate for this worthy cause and aid in saving countless lives in emergencies all around China.

According to the WHO, volunteer, non-remunerated blood donations from low risk populations are the safest blood donors. In the event of blood shortages, payment in exchange for donations is often used as a method to encourage blood donation.

In the spirit of giving and creating a little extra incentive, OASIS will provide each donor with an OASIS first aid kit (medium sized – shown in picture).